The 20 Best Nicknames in the Big Mafia Bust

January 20, 2011

News came down this morning about the FBI’s largest organized crime bust in New York history, in which raids resulted in the arrest of over 100 alleged mobsters from all five crime families including the Gambinos, Genoveses, Luccheses, Bonannos and Colombos. Charges run the gamut from murder to gambling and the ol’ standby, racketeering, and now WNYC has the full list of indictments. Digitally thumbing through the documents, two things are initially clear: this thing is huge (16 indictments in all) and none of them share my last name. The other thing that jumps out is that these dudes have great nicknames. Here are 20 of our favorites:

20. VINCENT AULISI, also known as “The Vet”

19. GIOVANNI VELLA, also known as “John Vella,” “Mousey” and “Little John”

18. STEPHEN DEPIRO, also known as “Beach”

17. ANTHONY CAVEZZA, also known as “Tony Bagels”

16. JOHN BRANCACCIO, also known as”Johnny Bandana”

15. ANTHINO RUSSO, also known as “Hootie”

14. FRANK BELLANTONI, also known as “Meatball”

13. CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS, also known as “Burger”

12. VINCENZO FROGIERO, also known as “Vinny Carwash”

11. JOSEPH CARNA, also known as “Junior Lollipops”

10. DENNIS DELUCIA, also known as “Fat Dennis,” “Little Dennis” and “the Beard”

9. LUIGI MANOCCHIO, also known as “Baby Shacks,” “The Old Man,” and “the Professor”

8. ANTHONY DURSO, also known as “Baby Fat Larry” and “BFL”

7. GIUSEPPE DESTEFANO, also known as “Pooch”

6. JOHN AZZARELLI, also known as “Johnny Cash”

5. ANDREW RUSSO, also known as “Mush”

4. VINCENT FEBBRARO, also known as “Jimmy Gooch”

3. BENJAMIN CASTELLAZZO, also known as “Benji,” “The Claw” and “the Fang”